Listen to this article

The brief “She Loves” and the short “She Hates” bookend a searing set of left-field originals that alternate the steady beats of rock with twisty jazz rhythm.

Lean themes move in unexpected ways, and alt-rock textures are precisely orchestrated for two guitarists and John Escreet’s piano and Fender Rhodes.

Binney’s fat-toned and precisely phrased alto sax is the star turn, fluent, funky and abrasive in “Distant City”, oblique and inquisitive on the title track and merging with wordless vocals on the downbeat “Waiting for the Blast”.